U-Haul

Pros: NONE
Cons: Poor local management. Worse customer service.

I decided to reserve a 19.99 truck online for some local furniture moving. I went to the "PREFERRED PICKUP" location where it showed on my email confirmation on the day to pick up my truck. I found out my reservation wasn't there so I just borrowed another truck from that location.

A day later, they charged me $50 fee for CANCELLATION for not picking up the truck. Even though I went to the location and asked for my reservation. They told me over the phone that because THEY did not bring the truckto the location THEY specified over the email, it counts as a cancellation! So including the extra 5 bucks for reserving online, I'm stuck with a 50 dollars cancellation fee for a mistake they made!!

When I called their customer service, they're answer was "it's not our problem". All they want to do is take your money and stack on fee after fee.

Pros: Very inexpensive, includes 2" tow-hitch
Cons: Budget for gasoline. Have patience w/ U-Haul reps.

I recently purchased a 17.5ft ski boat in Austin, TX via craigslist. I had a friend in TX look over the boat before committing to buy. The trouble was that I'd have to somehow ship it 1300 miles north to Chicago. After some research, U-Haul proved cheapest, and about the only company that permits towing (and comes equipped w/ a hitch). I made my reservation online. I was contacted the day before pickup by a regional rep who confirmed the location of the 10' truck (their smallest) that I requested. It was just a couple of miles from the airport, which was very convenient. The truck was clean, and had apx 50k miles. It handled well at 65mph, and was reasonable on fuel (get the smallest possible truck for your job). The only trouble that I had was with the driver side sun visor that would fall in my face while driving over a bumpy patch of road. www.msu.edu/~armstr54/myspace/img176.jpg

Pros: None
Cons: too many to count

We had trouble form trying to pick it up, until when we dropped it off. We broke down 3 times, and the last time it was a potential deadly mechanical error, that someone had tried to cover up with electrical tape. The electrical tape was covering a 2in gap in the fuel line...we had been leaking fuel and could have blown up anytime along the way. We had 3 tires blow out any of those times a spark could have caught fire. I have tried to contact u-haul several times and have gotten no where. They don't call me back like they say, and they also have hung up on me many times after being on hold for several minutes. I think u-haul is a horrible company and advise people to never use them no matter what!

Pros: None
Cons: Uhaul

I would like to state that the two following U Haul locations should not be used:
5108 SOUTH BLVD
(BTWN SENECA & TYVOLA RD)
CHARLOTTE , NC 28217

2322 S FEDERAL
(S OF EVANS)
DENVER , CO 80219

Rented a 5x8 at the Charlotte, NC address and when arriving in Denver found that the Charlotte personnel did not due their job and not a nice sized dent on the trailer that was there when they hooked it up to our truck. Of course we were hassled by the personnel in Denver (after waiting 30 minutes to get someone to check us in) until they realized that we had the "protection" package that Charlotte added against our knowledge. So a double whammy from Charlotte location by not noting the damage as they should have and then charging us $40 for something we didn't want. Of course, the Denver location was no better as we had to wait for someone to get motivated to do their job and check us in. Someone walked by us when we were waiting outside and didn't even acknowledge us. Finally after waiting 15 minutes went inside only to wait another 15 minutes....

Pros: Low Cost, Cash Deposits, No Insurance Required, Wide Selection Of Truck Sizes.
Cons: Frequently Overbooked, Poorly Maintained Older Truck Fleet. Under-trained Minimum Wage Staff.

I have used U-Haul on several times and have almost every experience became a disaster. I will save you all the details but here is the summary. When you make a reservation for a truck U-Haul will take the reservation without being certain they can provide you a truck.

They figure a certain percentage of customers will not come in and pickup their reserved truck. So they heavily overbook to be certain that all of their trucks are rented out on a given Saturday. If you can move your stuff on Tuesday availability is not a problem.

When I went in to pickup my reserved trucks they did not have any available. Of the times I used U-haul about 4 out of 10 they did not have a truck for me.

I switcher to Ryder and have had only one problem out of dozens of rentals.

Pros: I got to drive, if that's an advantage
Cons: See above.

Getting a reservation is easy, making sure the truck is available is not, and the truck was a clunker. Our neighbors moved in using Door To Door Storage (like PODS, but they said cheaper). Sounds nice in that they didn't have to load/unload/drive a clunky truck, and they had several days to pack and unpack. If or when I move again, probably give them a try, or at least a call.

Pros: One on one help with equipment
Clean truck, ran well
Cons: DON'T rent ONLINE if possible
if you must book online, do it way in advance

Great experience with our local UHaul location.  Got a price online, but decided to go see the trucks to figure out what size would suit our needs.  Decided on 10 foot truck, and since we had time, figured we would book it online from home.  Waited four days, and the price online had DOUBLED when I tried to book it.  Frustrated, I drove back to UHaul, and the manager booked the truck and trailer at the price he originally had given us without any problems or need for discussion.  When it turned out we couldn't use the tow dolly with our car (It's a 4 wheel drive), he gave us the car trailer for the same price we were originally quoted for the dolly ( a BIG savings). He personally went over how to secure the car to the trailer so it would be safe.  The truck was clean, and mechanically sound,,, drove it over 2000 miles to my new home. 

Pros: I did not receive a truck. Seems it was good because of their poor quality.
Cons: You will never get my business again. Will spread the good news to family/friends.

I made a reservation 2 weeks in advance and at 5PM the day before pickup I got a call saying no trucks available. They promised to call next day to say where I could pickup. I finally canceled at 12:30PM so I would not have to pay my movers for an 8 hour day.

Pros: none that I can think of
Cons: dishonest, unscrupulous, mean-spirited

I recently rented a U-Haul truck to transport 2 large potted plants, an in-town rental. I fell for the sign that says "19.95 per day" for a truck rental. The man wrote it up, never mentioned that there was a mileage charge, and never asked me if I wanted insurance or not. Since I used the truck for less than an hour, I would have said NO to the insurance. The truck was in very bad shape, but it did go to and from the locations, for a total of 19 miles. When I returned it, the bill was for $62.16. Turns out they charge $1.29 per mile, and the insurance was $14.00.
I know that I am partly to blame, as I didn't think to ask about either mileage or insurance, but I just assumed that there wasn't any, since I wasn't specifically told or asked that. This seems to me to be a big scam.

Pros: reliable truck, good customer service, cheapest
Cons: they could give ropes for attaching stuff

I was suspicious of uhaul after reading others' reviews on this site. But let me say that my personal experience with them was excellent. I rented a 14' truck to haul my stuff from college back home as I just graduated. It was a comfortable drive for all the 300 miles. I did not encounter any problems with the truck or their service. It did consume 20 gallons of gas, but I think thats true for all the trucks of this size.

They did not give me any ropes to keep the stuff stable, so I had to buy my own (8 bucks). But neither Budget or Penske were offering it either.

I would definitely recommend it because its the cheapest out there and does the job. I got these rates from everyone:
Uhaul - $170
Budget - $249
Penske - $499

Pros: None.
Cons: high hidden charges, dirty schemes, very unethical.

I swear that is the very last time that I use Uhaul and will try in my power to let anyone else to fall in their filthy traps:
1. Trap 1: hidden mileage charges will blow your bill sky high. They dare to charge $1.6/mile which is higher that getting in a freaking taxi!!! You can easily run over $100 on a short one-trip move. You will be much better off by going with Enterprise and Budget who also rent cargo vans and trucks;
2. Trap 2: box returns - They bunddle 20 midium boxes, no option for 10, if you fall to the seemingly cheaper price and think you can keep your receipt after all the chaos of your move, good luck.
3. Young kids at the counter, one of them totally disappeared on me, I had to wait for over half an hour to get another one.

Pros: None
Cons: Too many to list. Don't even think about using them!

They changed the size of the truck and location pickup FIVE times within three days, expecting me to pay mileage far from my home. When questioned, each representative claimed that someone else was responsible and refused to help.

Long story short: we finally realized UHaul would never get their story straight, so we cancelled and went to Budget. Budget was completely professional in every way and rented us the requested truck on short notice at a nearby location for a Sunday morning.

Hearsay: Budget told us that they get a lot of refugees from UHaul, who apparently overbook terribly and then ultimately give their trucks to whoever tips the most. ??

Pros: Did not break down, Got home safely. Air conditioning was freezing! Had new tires.
Cons: transmission had major problems and gave you wiplash. would not go over 55 mph

The u-haul was a 26' 1993 gmc topkick. It had 195,000 miles.
The truck had major transmission problems. It would not go over 55 mph! It shifted so hard that you could literally get wiplash! It also had low oil pressure and was leaking hydraulic fluid. All the way from chicago to kalamazoo michigan, the check gauges light came on and off and gave a very high pitch noise. The ride took forever because at 55 mph the truck was running at 4000rpm's and we were afraid that we would blow something up, if we went any faster. The suspension sucked! The so called comfort ride springs were a joke! The good news was that it did not break down and got us home safely. The truck did have a clean interior and the air conditioning was freaking cold! The truck did have an electrical problem, the next morning i went to start it up and it had a dead battery. I was lucky that I had a pair of jumper cables.

Pros: None
Cons: Everything!!

We were moving from southern Indiana to eastern Iowa and had reserved a van online. On the day we were supposed to pick up our truck they said that they didn't have one available. This is from a city of over 150,000 people. I don't believe it. Anyway, my wife called and was talking w/ a CSR and my wife stated "I think that you are being a quite rude." The reply was "I know you are!" Since when does customer service call their customers rude for trying to get what they pay for.

Pros: none
Cons: unreliable

I made a reservation for a one-way rental Chicago to Las Vegas. Had a reservation number and gave a credit card. Was told they would call me a 5pm the night before. They didn't call so I called them and was told all was in order and I could pick up my truck the next morning after 10am. Call the local dealer in the am and was told no truck. But I said, I confirmed yesterday. Well, yesterday the truck was there but it wasn't then when I was scheduled to get the truck. The quoted price was fine but they never came through with the truck. Had to go with Penske at the last minute and they treated me great. Take your chances if you will with UHaul.